Pressure to approve Carmichael project

The friends of Adani’s Carmichael mine, rail and port development are starting to organise.

Stakeholders have posted an open letter expressing their concerns on the need to boost flagging regional economies and increase local job opportunities.

The campaign – see below– is being led by peak representative body Townsville Enterprise.

Opposition spokesman for Mines and Northern Development Andrew Cripps said Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk had treated business and community leaders in central and northern Queensland with contempt by ignoring the open letter which warned Labor that its new groundwater laws could kill the job-creating project

“Labor has reluctantly declared Adani Carmichael mine as a ‘critical infrastructure project’, yet they continue to shift the goal posts, fueling further uncertainty in the region and the wider resources sector by subjecting the project to a double-jeopardy assessment and approvals process,” he said.

Natural Resources and Mines Minister Anthony Lynham said the government understood the importance of the Carmichael project to regional economies and
the state economy, as the Premier told CEDA in her State of the State address in Townsville recently.

“As she said: ‘No-one should doubt the resolve of my government to ensure the development of the Galilee Basin’,” he wrote in a statement to regional mayors who signed the open letter on Adani.

Dr Lynham said the Palaszczuk Government’s support for the project was evident in the key approvals it had delivered: the environmental authority, the mining leases, rail approvals and, most recently, the critical infrastructure status.

“My decision to grant this status, on the advice of the independent Coordinator-General, will mean less red tape for this $21.7 billion project and the jobs and business opportunities it offers,” he said.

Dr Lynham confirmed that the water legislation before the Parliament would require an ‘associated water licence’ from Adani, but argued this was not new.

“Adani and all coal mines have been required to obtain a water licence for 20 years. The associated water licence decision-making process will be based in science and allow the public to have a say, through a public notification and submission period,” he said.